Winter Holiday Round Up: O Come All Ye Kinky Anthology

Blurb:
Christmas is a time of love and joy, and the New Year is a time of renewal. But they are also times of stress and strife, family drama, pressure and heartache—a potent mix of high expectations and conflicted emotions. Add in power exchange relationships, kinky gift swaps, and unconventional love in a sometimes unforgiving world, and you have a formula for a sizzling anthology of stories that tug at your heart.

Whatever your desires, we invite you to explore new fantasies and old with these eight kinky tales of holiday happy endings.

Ava March, “’Twas the Night”
Percival Owen yearns for the nights when he can kneel before his lover, even though no self-respecting gentleman willingly submits to another. Michael wants his first Christmas with Percy to be perfect, but is frustrated by Percy’s inability to ask for what he wants. The gift Michael offers Percy—and that Percy offers in return—is the best Percy could ever hope to receive: his will to submit.

Jane Davitt, “Tree Topper”
Martin’s new to the scene, and his sub Stan has recently stopped taking him seriously. Their tree has floggers, clamps, and cuffs underneath it, but will they ever be used? Frustrated and confused, Martin knows it will take more than a star to guide him on his way to becoming the Dom Stan needs—but their path to happiness might be shorter than he thinks.

L.A. Witt, “Candy Caning”
Nate is dreading the annual Christmas visit with his family, during which they will ignore or insult his partner and Dominant. Stephen tries hard to take Nate’s mind off the trip with the promise—and threat—of a three-foot-long candy cane. It’s a race to see if Nate’s resolve or the candy cane will shatter first.

Alexa Snow, “Ring Out the Old and In the New”
Recovering from a mugging on the London Underground, Evan has barely left the house in weeks. His partner and Dom, Russell, finally manages to drag him outside on Christmas Eve, but it’s the surprise that Russell has waiting for him back home that helps Evan get past his trauma and remember what’s important: being on his knees for the man he loves.

Elyan Smith, “Open Return”
Fifteen years ago, Zach left the small Midwestern town he grew up in, confused and scared and determined to figure out who he was. Now transformed, he’s drawn back by the memory and promise of the dominant couple he left behind. Laura and Scott are still together, and as the year draws to a close, they explore old feelings and new ones as they discover they’ve all been waiting for Zach to come home.

Kim Dare, “His Very Last Chance”
Drew screwed up. So when his master, Kingsley, summons him on New Year’s Eve, he knows he deserves the punishment in store for him. Everything changed for Kingsley when he overheard Drew running his mouth to his friends on Boxing Day. Now, there’s only one way he can possibly ring in the New Year: starting over fresh, either with an ending or a new beginning.

Katie Porter, “Fireworks”
Rachel’s job is taking her to Tokyo, which means leaving behind her lover and submissive, Emma. When she summons Emma for one last hurrah on New Year’s Eve, Emma answers, hoping desperately to be able to break through her ma’am’s emotional barriers and find the spark of love among the glittering fireworks.

Joey W. Hill, “Submissive Angel”
After Robert found Ange bleeding in an alley, he employed the man in his vintage toy store as an act of charity. However, this Christmas, the eccentric young dancer will offer his thanks—and himself—to teach a brokenhearted Master how to open his heart to love again.

“Merry Christmas, buddy,” the bus driver muttered, leaving Zach to fend for himself among the faint carols and flickering decorations of the bus depot in Nowhere, Illinois. All Zach could think in return was, “I don’t want to fight tonight.” The incessant refrain from the Ramones’ Christmas track had haunted him since Melbourne. The bus pulled away, taillights disappearing in the gray of the distance, and Zach wondered what the hell he was doing.

The shakiness had set in when his confidence had slipped by the wayside somewhere over the Pacific. He’d spent most of the flight turning his sunglasses over and around, until he’d pushed them into his pocket just prior to landing. Now they pressed against his thigh, but they were more for hiding, and nothing here was supposed to be about that. He hefted his bag on his shoulder, pulled his hat low over his ears to protect against the cold wind and falling snow, and marched, well, home, trying to avoid spinning into maybes and what ifs.

Fifteen years hadn’t left much of a mark here: the decorations and signs in shop windows looked the same. The shaky singular traffic light on the main road didn’t look like it had ever been replaced. He followed street signs that had been faded fifteen years ago toward the edge of the town. Shop fronts stood empty now, though, and the diner at the corner still proclaimed all-day breakfast in the window, but the glass was broken. His group of friends had occupied a corner of it most weekends, talking Pearl Jam’s latest and how the world would stop in a massive crash of computers come the New Year while “Mambo No. 5” played over the speakers. When they’d ducked for a smoke, they’d gone just around the corner into the alley, the same place Zach had first let Scott fondle his breasts and pinch his nipples with cold fingers, nails tickling as Scott ran them down to Zach’s stomach.

Zach thought he’d shuffled through whatever memories lurked in the back of his mind when he’d looked through the photos a few weeks ago, the ones in the folder crammed underneath his books from college. But being here now made him remember the summertime barbecues, wintertime roasts and carols, Halloween in-between and never, never being the pretty princess.

Zach stopped at the rusting fence two houses before Kevin and Elaine’s garden. He could turn back around now, wait twelve hours for another bus and just go on to Kansas or Oklahoma or Salt Lake City. He could pretend the nostalgia had never crawled out of the photos to settle in with the guilt over leaving he’d been carrying for years. He’d make the same choice all over again, but that didn’t make it right or the regrets any lighter.

When he took a few steps closer to their house, he saw his old bike still leaning against the side of the shed in the yard, half-covered in snow now, and he was once more the little girl his parents had shipped off to friends when they’d needed time to sort themselves out and then had never picked up again, leaving him to Kevin and Elaine.

Cars were parked in the road in front of their house for their traditional neighborhood get-together—friends, family, the people you only saw once a year—a few days before Christmas. People were visible through the windows, a few of them smoking on the back porch and quietly talking, the party in full swing. Laughter rose from inside and dissipated again into the clatter of voices talking over one another as Zach walked closer. He had some nerve to show up now, and as he fiddled with the sunglasses in his pocket, he imagined being told to shove it, the intervening years sitting as cold spaces in the middle of conversations where they’d once been close. He’d missed them—Kevin and Elaine, who’d cared for him like he was their own child, and Scott and Laura, who’d cared in different ways entirely. Who knew if they even remembered who he was?

Zach took his bag up the drive, inching past cars, and wiped at the snow on his face once he’d made it to the front door. All attempts at playing the coward a little while longer and hiding behind anticipating the worst had lost themselves under his soles with every step closer, so he rang the doorbell. Waited.

The door swung open, and of all the people who could’ve opened it, it was fitting that it was Scott. Of course it would be. He was wearing a striped button-down, a can of Budweiser in hand, work pants belted under a bit of a belly, and dirty, off-white socks. He’d filled out, beard thick on his cheeks and down his neck, hair on top a little thinner. Other than that, he still looked like the photos Zach had glanced through just days ago. Zach’s jitters made him think he was twenty and in love all over again.

Scott startled. His face moved through a range of emotions before it shuttered into guarded. “Zach?”

“Hey.” Zach slipped his hat off. The conversation inside quieted and Zach chanced a glance past Scott. A few guests craned their heads to look down the hallway at him. He cleared his throat as he focused back on Scott, his voice sounding like it wasn’t his own for the first time in years. His mind was awash with explanations and apologies, but he ended up going for, “I missed the bus out yesterday, would have been here last night otherwise. I know I probably should’ve written or called, but . . .”

“Hannah?” Kevin appeared behind Scott. Elaine, next to him, mouthed, “Zach,” at the same time. The movement of her lips and the sound of that name from Kevin still made Zach’s heart catch. It belonged to the photos he’d left to the dust mites, not to the guy he was now. Ten years since he’d last heard it, but he nodded at Kevin anyway and tried to ignore the whispers and looks from some in the room.

“Surprise,” he said quietly. Someone in the room chuckled nervously, and Scott faded into the background. Zach resisted pulling at his shirt as his coat morphed from snow-caked to sopping wet on his shoulders.

“Surprise indeed.” Kevin hesitated but offered a firm handshake before he pulled Zach into a full hug. “Welcome back, Zach. I didn’t think we’d see you again.”

About The Authors:Ava March
Ava March is an author of smoking hot M/M historical erotic romances. She loves writing in the Regency time period, where proper decorum is of the utmost importance, but where anything can happen behind closed doors.

Alexa Snow
Alexa Snow is an emotional person who appreciates practicality in others. She’s prone to crying at inconvenient times, drinking too much coffee, and staying up too late playing with words (either reading or writing).

A background of schooling she wasn’t all that interested in resulted in a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a vague sense of wasted time. Alexa lives in a tiny old house in New England with her husband, her young son, and a small collection of pets.

Elyan Smith
Elyan Smith lives in the southwest of England. Friends regularly accuse him of being an antisocial sod who spends too much of his free time looking at porn on the internet, when in truth he spends most of it writing—but the porn’s the easier excuse.

He works as a researcher in psychology by day, and when he’s not writing, he’s probably in the theater, watching other people create magic.

Jane Davitt
Jane Davitt is English, and has been living in Canada with her husband, two children, and two cats, since 1997. Writing and reading are her main occupations but if she ever had any spare time she might spend it gardening, walking, or doing cross stitch. She’s recently taken up yoga and loves discovering her ability to bend.

Jane has been writing since 2002 and wishes she’d started earlier. She is a huge fan of SF, fantasy, erotica, and mystery novels and has a tendency to get addicted to TV shows that get cancelled all too soon.

She owns over 4,000 books, rarely gives any away, but is happy to loan them, and is of the firm opinion that there is no such thing as “too many books.”

Joey W. Hill
Winner of the 2011 Romantic Times Career Achievement award, Joey W. Hill has published over thirty contemporary and paranormal BDSM erotic romances, including four series.

Her characters include everything from vampires, mermaids, witches and angels, to boardroom executives, cops and simple housemaids.

Katie Porter
Katie Porter is the co-writing team of Lorelie Brown and Carrie Lofty, friends and critique partners of six years. Both are multi-published in several romance genres. Carrie has an MA in history, while Lorelie is a US Army veteran.

Generally a high-strung masochist, Carrie loves weight training but she has no fear of gross things like dissecting formaldehyde sharks. Her two girls are not appreciative.

Lorelie, a laid-back sadist, would rather grin maniacally when Carrie works out. Her three boys love how she screams like a little girl around spiders.

Kim Dare
Kim Dare is a twenty-nine year old, full time writer from Wales (UK). First published in 2008, she has since released close to eighty BDSM erotic romance titles.

While most of Kim’s stories follow male/male relationships, she also writes about characters that enjoy male/female, female/male (female dominant), female/female and all kinds of ménage relationships. Kim’s titles have included contemporary stories, fairytale re-tellings, vampires, time travelers, werewolves and werelions—not to mention the occasional wereduck.

Regardless of the gender of her characters or the different genres they inhabit, from short stories to full-length novels, there are three things Kim always wants to give her characters—kink, love, and a happy ending.

L.A. Witt
L.A. Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer who has finally been released from the purgatorial corn maze of Omaha, Nebraska, and now spends her time on the southwestern coast of Spain. In between wondering how she didn’t lose her mind in Omaha, she explores the country with her husband, several clairvoyant hamsters, and an ever-growing herd of rabid plot bunnies. She also has substantially more time on her hands these days, as she has recruited a small army of mercenaries to search South America for her nemesis, romance author Lauren Gallagher, but don’t tell Lauren. And definitely don’t tell Lori A. Witt or Ann Gallagher. Neither of those twits can keep their mouths shut . . .